The questions patients ask me

At least twenty-one, with a prescription that has been stable for at least two years. The two conditions go together: operating on an eye whose refraction is still changing means aiming at a moving target. There is no upper age limit as such, but after fifty-five the question shifts to the natural lens, and the answer is often PreLex rather than laser.

Not during the operation: anaesthesia is given with eye drops and all you feel is some pressure. Afterwards, it depends on the technique. LASIK and SMILE are comfortable within the first few hours. Trans-PRK means three to five genuinely uncomfortable days while the epithelium grows back. You need to know about this difference before you choose, not after.

After LASIK or SMILE, most patients go back after two to three days, avoiding dusty places and long hours at a screen during the first week. After Trans-PRK, allow about a week. These times are a guide only: an office job and outdoor work do not resume at the same pace.

In refractive surgery, yes, and that is the rule: both eyes are treated in the same session. In cataract surgery, no: the two operations are two weeks apart, so that the first eye can recover and the result can be checked before the second is operated on.

Often, but it is never guaranteed, and no serious surgeon will guarantee it. The result depends on your starting prescription, the shape of your cornea and how you heal, which varies from person to person. What the pre-operative assessment does allow is a realistic estimate of the expected result. Be wary of any website that claims a one hundred per cent success rate.

When surgery is done on a stable prescription, the result lasts. Small natural changes occur with age, as they do for everyone, unrelated to the original myopia. Presbyopia, on the other hand, will appear at around forty-five, as it does for everyone: it is not a failure of the surgery but a separate process.

Possibly, and it is part of the normal course of care rather than a complication. An enhancement is discussed once things have stabilised, usually at three months, and only if enough corneal thickness remains. After LASIK, it is done by lifting the existing flap again, which no other corneal technique allows.

No. That idea belongs to a time when techniques were different. Today, we operate when the cataract is a real nuisance in daily life: difficulty driving at night, reading that is a struggle despite up-to-date glasses, glare. Waiting brings no benefit, and a very dense cataract makes the operation more difficult.

No. The lens that has been removed does not grow back. What is called ‘secondary cataract’ is clouding of the thin membrane left in place to hold the lens implant. It is treated in the consulting room with a YAG laser, with no incision and no anaesthesia other than eye drops. The procedure does not need repeating. Find out more.

No, the anaesthesia is local, with eye drops. You are awake; you do not see the operation, only lights, and you feel no pain. Light sedation can be offered if you are very anxious: this is discussed with the anaesthetist at the compulsory pre-anaesthetic consultation.

Ten to twenty minutes for the procedure itself. You spend a few hours at the clinic as a day case: you go home the same day, with someone to accompany you.

After LASIK or SMILE, often from the next day, once the check-up has been done. After Trans-PRK, allow about a week. After cataract surgery, people usually drive again within a few days, but only the post-operative check-up can confirm it: your measured visual acuity decides, not a theoretical time frame.

Non-contact activities, such as walking or cycling, after a few days. Swimming pools and the sea should be avoided for two to four weeks depending on the technique. Contact sports and martial arts call for lasting caution after LASIK, since the flap can in theory still be displaced: this is one of the reasons Trans-PRK is preferred for people in exposed jobs and sports.

Call the practice on +33 1 47 51 10 83 and give the date of your operation. Outside opening hours, go to the nearest eye emergency department. Pain that persists, or vision that drops after being good, must never wait for your scheduled appointment.

No. French national health insurance (Assurance Maladie) regards it as elective surgery: LASIK, SMILE, Trans-PRK, PresbyLASIK, phakic lenses and PreLex are not covered. A growing number of top-up health insurance policies (mutuelles) do, however, offer a fixed allowance, covering all or part of the cost. See fees.

It is covered. You pay the additional fees above the national tariff and, where applicable, the supplement for a premium lens implant; a monofocal lens involves no extra cost. You are given a written quote before the operation, designed to be sent to your top-up health insurer.

Yes. The assessment is a complete medical procedure: it belongs to you, and its measurements remain valid if you see someone else. I prefer to say so beforehand rather than let you find out afterwards.

Not always. A cornea that is too thin, a prescription that is too strong, a doubtful topography, dry eye: depending on the reason, other options are sometimes possible, and sometimes none are, in which case I will tell you clearly. A second opinion is there to find out which of these situations applies to you.

It depends on the lens implant used and on what you were told to expect. A residual prescription can sometimes be treated: corneal laser, an additional lens implant or, more rarely, an implant exchange. The page on this situation sets out the options.